Transport Minister Anthony Albanese says the approval of the Tralee development "doesn't make any sense". Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Canberra was the only airport in an Australian capital city that had a flight path free of housing development, Mr Albanese told reporters in Perth, while unveiling plans to improve aircraft noise monitoring in the city.

''You only have to talk to residents under the flight path who live in houses here in Perth or other capital cities to know that if you had a situation … [like Canberra], it would be a pretty dumb idea to retrospectively fit housing under the flight path,'' he said. ''The NSW government has actually changed its planning zoning for under the flight path at Canberra Airport to allow housing development. That doesn't make any sense at all.''

Mr Albanese said infrastructure that didn't have an impact on communities was precious.

''So I'm very disappointed with the NSW government's decision … We're looking at all of the options available to the commonwealth in order to intervene in this, and in the meantime, I've written to the NSW premier and planning minister asking them to reconsider this very bad policy decision.'' AAP